Iranian bomb plotter was used car salesman

Iran and the United States were engaged in an escalating diplomatic showdown last night over an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said Washington had imposed its own sanctions on individuals and companies linked to the alleged plot and was pressing its case for further punitive measures at the United Nations.

Vice-President Joe Biden warned that “nothing has been taken off the table” in the attempt to punish Iran for its supposed role in the bizarre plot to kill the ambassador in a bombing using explosives supplied by a Mexican drug smuggler who happened to be a US government informant. Iran furiously denied any links to the plot, lodging a formal complaint with the…